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Women-Owned Firms ARE Scaling Into the Middle Market

As we womenablers are well aware, monitoring the growth of women-owned firms into the upper reaches of business achievement is stymied not only by the capping of business revenues published by government statistics into the “$1 million+” category but by limiting the accounting of women-owned firms to just those businesses that are 51% or more owned by a woman or women – ignoring the contributions of women entrepreneurs who, by virtue of external investors or sharing equity with senior management, have become plurality rather than majority owners of their enterprises.

There’s now new information out from American Express and Dun & Bradstreet – based on D&B’s extensive database of commercially active U.S. firms – which clearly shows that, when those categorical definitions are shed, women entrepreneurs are scaling into the upper reaches of business achievement at rates equal to the average enterprise.

Women entrepreneurs are just as likely as their male counterparts to own a middle market enterprise: Less than 1% (0.7%) of commercially-active businesses are in the middle market (defined as firms with between $10 million and $1 billion in revenues). Similar shares of women-owned/women-led firms (0.4%) and majority women-owned firms (0.7%) are found in the middle market.

Women are moving into the middle market at impressive rates: Between 2008 and 2014, while the number of middle market firms increased by 4.1% overall, the number of women-owned or -led firms in the middle market has increased by 32.4%, and the number of majority women-owned firms in the middle market has increased by 23.6%. Thus, women and are entering into the middle market at rates five to seven times the rate of all commercially-active businesses.

Women-owned and -led firms in the middle market account for a large share of employment and revenues: Women-owned/women-led middle market firms comprise just 0.4% of all women-owned or -led firms, yet employ one-quarter (23%) of workers and contribute one-quarter (25%) of the revenues accounted for by all women-owned/women-led firms. Similarly, majority (51%+) women-owned firms in the middle market represent 0.7% of all women-owned firms, yet employ one-quarter (23%) of workers and contribute one-third (32%) of revenues accounted for by majority women-owned firms.

Women-owned/-led firms stand toe to toe with their peers in terms of economic clout: Sixteen percent (16%) of middle market firms with a female CEO generate $50 million or more in revenues, as do 17% of all middle market enterprises. Further, 16% of female-led middle market firms employ 500 or more workers, as do 15% of all middle market enterprises.

In addition to a look at trends among women-owned and women-owned and -led firms, the report also investigates the growth of minority-owned firms in the middle market.

To download and read this exciting new report, click on the link above or visit Womenable’s authored research page (which also includes another growth-focused analysis that may be of interest, “Growing Under the Radar.”). An infographic summarizing the key findings of this analysis from a women’s entrepreneurship perspective is available on Womenable’s Infogr.am page.